Harvest time

[JohnT]

Well, this weekend was that time of year again. Time to can tomatoes!

We worked both Saturday and sunday to process 21 bushels of tomatoes. That resulted in 436 quarts to be split by 10 people. Was hard work (Saturday was a very warm day) but we all had such a great time!

Here are some pics..

Pic 1 - we started by washing them,

Pic 2 - then we sliced them in half and simmered them in a pig pot.

Pic 3 - from there they go into the tomato mill.

Pic 4 - get a load of just how meaty they were!

Pic 5 - The tomato mill deposits the tomatoes into a pot while shooting the skin and seeds out the side. The post then go onto a burner and is allowed to heat up until boiling.

Pic 6 - From there the tomatoes are poured into prepared mason jars that have been boiled.

Pic 7 - The jars are then lidded and place in boiling water for 45 minutes.

Pic 8 - we had several batches going all at once.

Pic 9 - from the water bath, they at place into crates and allowed to cool. We kept hearing the load "Tink" as the lids came under vacuum. These are just a few of them.

 

[JohnT]

hear is another picture.. These are tomatoes that have been cut in half, then set on the heat (just prior to going to the tomato mill). Man, these 'maters were red and ripe!

We added fresh basil to some of the jars. Here is one man's solution to always wanting to smell basil......